Measure resistance

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Discover how to measure resistance. Learn how to configure a digital multimeter and correctly probe a resistor. Find out why some DMMs have a range of resistance settings and how to choose the right one for your measurements.

- Since the actual value of a resistor…can be anywhere within five or even 10%…of its expected value, depending on the tolerance,…sometimes I want to measure the actual resistance…of a component before I use it in my circuit.…And I can do that with my trusty old digital multimeter.…To measure resistance, I'll have the black probe…connected to the com port…and the red probe connected to the right port,…with the ohm symbol above it.…Next, I'll need to turn the selector knob…to the resistance measurement mode,…which is indicated by the ohm symbol.…

My particular DMM has five possible ranges…to choose from for measuring resistance,…ranging from 200 ohms all the way up to 20 megaohms.…If you have a fancier DMM with auto-ranging capabilities,…you won't need to worry about selecting a range.…The range I select controls where the decimal point…will be located on the output,…so I can represent really large…and really small resistance values…on the same little screen,…which can only show three digits at a time.…If I choose too small of a range,…

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Released

3/27/2017

As is the case with many technical projects, it's possible to assemble an electronic circuit without really understanding the different parts involved—you can just connect components together to match an electronic schematic. That said, in order to debug an existing circuit—or design your own—you have to actually understand how the individual electrical components work and how to use them together. In this course, join electrical engineer Barron Stone as he shares the knowledge and tools you need to learn exactly that. Barron demonstrates how to build basic circuits using resistors, capacitors, and inductors. He dives into how each component works and shows the common circuits that use them. He explains the difference between alternating current and direct current and how to use an oscilloscope to view electrical signals. Then, he demonstrates building passive filter circuits to remove unwanted frequency components from those signals.